Egypt jails two journalists, renews detention of another

April 30, 2014 4:52 PM ET

Saaid Shihata, reporter for Yaqeen, an
online news network that is supportive of former President Mohamed Morsi, was
arrested on December 30, 2013, while another Yaqeen reporter, Ahmed
Gamal, was arrested two days prior, according to Yahya Khalaf, Yaqeen's
executive director, who spoke to CPJ. Both journalists were held after covering
clashes
between students and security forces at Al-Azhar
University in Nasr City neighborhood of Cairo.

Shihata was charged with "participating in an illegal demonstration"
and "assaulting a police officer," Khalaf said. He will appear in court on May
11, 2014. Gamal has not yet been charged, but was accused on April 10, 2014, of the same
charges that Shihata faces, Khalaf told CPJ.

The journalists announced a hunger
strike at Abu Zaabal prison, where they are being held in pre-trial
detention, according to their employer and news reports.

On April 19, 2014, the prosecutor general renewed the pre-trial
detention of another journalist. Karim Shalaby, a reporter for the news website
Al-Masder,
who has been in jail since January 25, 2014, was accused of participating in a
demonstration, according to his lawyer, Nour Eddin Mohamed. Al-Masder is
affiliated with the April 6 Youth
Movement, a reform-minded group formed in 2008 that takes its name from the
date of a labor strike. On April 28, 2014, the movement was banned by a
court order.

Ali Assem, the executive director of Al-Masder, told CPJ that
Shalaby was arrested while covering anti-government demonstrations in downtown
Cairo. Shalaby is being held at Wadi Natrun prison, Assem
said.

The jail term of another journalist was reduced on appeal. The
North Cairo Court of Appeal reduced the prison sentence given to Samah Ibrahim,
a reporter with the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice newspaper,
from one year to six months in prison and a fine of 50,000
Egyptian pounds (US$7,124), the newspaper reported.

Ibrahim was convicted in
April of charges including "disturbing the peace," according to
her employer,
her lawyer, and news reports.

At
least 14 other
journalists are held behind bars in Egypt. Authorities
have used legal harassment and arbitrary detention as
means to silence critical journalists. More than 65journalists have
been detained since July 2013, according to CPJ research. Most have been freed.

The
imprisonment of Shihata, Gamal, and Shalaby brings to at least 17 the number of
imprisoned journalists in Egypt in late April 2014, according to CPJ research.

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